Perfectly Hopeless
by Miyuki-Tukiyo
Summary: So this is what happens when she attends a school of raving lunatics with homicidal tendencies and the pure, holy intention of reducing much of the school population to charred corpses. And that's quite enough to permanently traumatized ANY human being.
1. Chapter 1

**An extreme pain in the neck that all authors endure: The Disclaimer. **

**I do not own Katekyo Hitman Reborn and I refuse to repeat this same sentence for the next thirty chapters of this story. **

**Just letting you know. **

* * *

><p>On a beautiful day of precarious explosions and various billows of hazardous smoke induced by potentially life-threatening bombs thrown around the classroom, Nomzomi, Rei sat next to a relatively undamaged window in the middle of this entire ruckus.<p>

Nozomi, for one, did not particularly mind what the hell happened to the classroom as long as she is not disturbed in the slightest way.

However that was soon to change when the tiny substitute (Reboyama, I think?) announced, in an ash filled classroom harmful to one's oxygen supply, that the class was to get up and start doing ridiculous exercises.

In everyone's simultaneous bursts of shock, most dropped what they were doing and turned to stare at the teacher incredulously with sweat dropping off their heads.

Oh yes.

The substitute was their wonderful teacher.

Their fear-inspiring, chalk wielding, very assassin-like teacher.

He took the rule of 'obey your teacher without hesitation' to a whole new level and Nozomi had never before met a tiny man who could silence an entire crowd with a few words and a piece of chalk (Actually, more than _a_ piece seeing as he was wasting the entire class's chalk supply by hammering them into dust against students' skulls)

So you can't really blame the barely concealed horror of the class and the high pitched screams of despair as many students (and parents) promptly fainted from 'Reboyama' s display of mad ninja skills and the entire class being dragged into it.

…

Well, yeah, you can blame the boy with the brown hair for leaping up in shock and going hysterical and thus causing Nozomi to trip over and ram into the silver haired transfer student who, by chance and misfortune, sat next to her and caused 99.9% of the pain in her life, while she was doing the exercises demanded by the tiny substitute.

Suddenly, the silver haired boy looked a lot more murderous than any boy with a relatively feminine hairstyle (Come on! Look at that hair! It's a girl's hairstyle, no?) had any right to be.

"HEY! What the hell is wrong with you?" he screeched at her.

"Nothing. My apologies." said Nozomi with a perfect, blank, poker face.

Now.

When forced to be present in a classroom where death is your next door neighbor, the teacher is a potential assassin, and explosives are something of a daily occurrence, one must learn to adapt.

And in this case, adaption was especially important seeing as Nozomi was somewhat unused to living on the battlefield and had quite a lot of physical faults.

Said adaption wouldn't work out very well if it were to involve retaliation via pure, honest, statements of the overly negative mind.

Nozomi, a girl who appreciated life very, very much, was more than willing to adapt to this rather strange (and highly dangerous) environment and therefore, she managed to cut her highly offending, but perfectly sincere, remarks down to simple, one word statements that were perfectly polite and not very likely to get herself killed.

But that doesn't stop her true thoughts of rather nasty comments from pouring out in her mind, uninhibited by any boundary.

So when she said, 'My apologies.' it meant more of something along the lines of:

_You throw dynamite around on a daily basis, nearly reduced half my classmates to piles of ash, and pollute my lungs via foul, toxic smoke. I do not give a frigging shit about what offends your sorry ass._

Yes, Nozomi can be highly insulting indeed when she's in the mood. And at the moment, she had just lost her place in a thousand word book due to a screaming brunette now being tortured by the substitute so you can safely assume that just one more push can probably send her overboard.

"Che, stupid bookworm…"

Shit. He said the taboo. And yet…

Nozomi simply raised an eyebrow and carefully pondered on whether or not she should proceed to rip his head off via nasty, putrid language most pirates would kill for.

But taking in the fact that there was a good amount of dynamite hidden in who-knows-where within five feet of Gokudera, and that they were merely one feet apart, she highly doubted retorting would be a good idea.

Therefore, she made do with letting out a stream of colorful language in her mind mostly consisted of swear words and misfortune directed at a certain bomber-boy.

Thankfully, her inner barrage of cold, unchained fury that was rapidly starting to leak out of her body via dark, evil auras of death was interrupted when a beautiful girl with lush pink hair entered the class.

"Urg!" came a cry. What the hell?

* * *

><p>Gokudera Hayato promptly fainted on the spot from the fear-inspiring terror of the century that was his sister's face. That, of course, led to his sister dragging him off to god-knows-where for possible surgery that would definitely do more harm than good.<p>

And then, after all the before class warm-up exercises were over, Reboyama decides to start class.

Which is fucking bad.

Because Reboyama is by all means mentally challenged in trying to tell apart middle school brats from college professors…Is what Nozomi mentally mused as she looked at the front of the room.

The class deadpanned at the ridiculous university level math problem that filled the whole frigging board in less than five seconds.

How the hell did that happen without their notice? Nobody shall ever know…

"Anyone know this one?" He prompted as if that horrendous THING on the board was a perfectly normal everyday event as opposed to something seemly dragged out of the pits of hell made to torture everyday middle school students.

There was silence.

Not a single hand was raised.

"Can't anyone solve it?"

Nozomi stared at it. Blinked a few times.

And then decided it was not worth her time and returned to flipping through the pages of her book in a desperate attempt to find where she had left off before bomber boy made her lose her place.

While she was hard at work discovering the eternal fucking _pain _that comes with trying to do the impossible (in this case, trying to find one particular paragraph in a thousand page book that was half burnt do to certain circumstances. Not the best way to spend your time.), 'Reboyama' tried to coax the students into answering the problem…

…By offering a place in what is known as mafia.

_Mafia._

As in, assassins, hitmen, murder, dirty-money, and various other sorts of precarious crimes that have a tendency to wind up sending oneself to a nice, clean cell at the bottom of the government's dungeon.

Wow.

I'm sure that just _completely _motivates _perfectly ordinary _middle school brats without homicidal tendencies, death wishes, or something equally life-endangering.

Speaking of which, the aforementioned brunette was eyeing the tiny substitute with a mortified expression of sheer horror that would have been humorous had Nozomi not known that whatever horror the brat was fearing probably applied to the rest of the class as well.

It seemed that the great 'Reboyama' sensei was tired of waiting for the failure of a class that was quite obviously not going to answer the problem and therefore…He moves to plan B.

"Oi, solve the problem or else everyone will have a turn chained in that." He declared, pointing to an electric chair which popped out of nowhere and seemly emitted an evil, malicious aura that decreed certain death and charred bodies to be deposited by the underground organization of this city (in this case, the Discipline Committee).

Just when all was about to end in precarious smoke and ashes of fallen students…a cow stopped by.

He gave us momentarily hope to avoid certain doom.

Said momentary hope that was immediately shot down when Reborn hurled a bomb at the unfortunate cow and blasted him to smithereens.

"Lambo!" the brunette cried.

He then immediately started quarrelling with the evil, scary, nightmare inducing substitute that was our teacher…But with the elimination of what could have been our sole hope of escaping this classroom unscathed, we had a new issue:

_How the hell do we leave this place alive?_

* * *

><p>It seemed the only way out of this unwarrantable situation was to solve the damn problem that was unknowingly ripping our lives apart.<p>

Or…as an alternative…torture the helpless tuna.

"So he _is _a friend of Sawada."

"What a pain."

"Do something!"

The class glared at Tsuna as a whole and he gulped at the mass crowd of severely pissed students crying for his blood since he sort of, like, brought the devil in human skin _right into their class?_

Which is more than enough of a reason to damn him to the pits of hell? (Not that we're not _already _about to go to hell via _electric chair _of all things.)

At the sudden increase of killing intent in her surroundings that Nozomi should have noticed a good five minutes ago due to screams and cries of despair, the said girl finally looked up from the pages of her book (where she _still _hadn't found the page she left off on thus resulting in a fiery grudge against the bomber-boy who fainted.) and noticed the dire situation around her.

Her eyes narrowed.

Then she heaved a heavy sigh.

If death was that fucking inevitable, then she might as well get it over with and say hi to her great, great, great grandfather. She'd always wanted to meet him some day. Just not quite so soon.

Then again, the world is a fucked up place so you never know.

Nozomi took a deep breath, raised her scrawny, normal colored arm that was a bit stiff into the air and held it there for a good ten seconds…

"Yes?" Reboyama called.

"Zero." Nozomi deadpanned, knowing for sure that this, of all numbers, would most definitely be wrong because the answer would probably most likely be something along the lines of A=Y324x234(12) 341. _THAT _probably had a better chance of right as opposed to _zero _of all things.

Silence penetrated the room.

And then, defying all the logic in the universe, the next words from Reboyama-sensei's mouth was probably meant to scar her for life.

"Correct." He said with a smirk. "Welcome to the Vongola Family."

Tsuna fainted.

Nozomi blinked and decided it was a good thing since she won't die via electric chair.

The rest of the class went into various states of shock including falling off their chairs, having their jaws hit the floor, or, to Nozomi's disgust, foaming at the mouth and turning into corpse like beings.

"Wonderful." She said. Then she went back to her book, regardless of the traumatized expressions of the many occupants nearby.

Little did she know, hell has come.

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><p><strong>Soooo...care to review to tell me whether I sh<strong>**ould eliminate this horrid monstrosity or continue the story?**

**Ciao!**


	2. Chapter 2

**To Nica-Neko G (and whoever else that read Welcome To Your Worst Nightmare by yours truly), you will find out why it suddenly vanished in this chapter of Perfectly Hopeless (that's all I'm saying for now…No spoilers ^_^)**

**Enjoy the latest chapter!**

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><p>While the day had somehow ended without the death, maiming, or complete obliteration of any human being who had entered the room fully intact and breathing (though the same can't be said of their various mental states. Many were traumatized for life. Others were lucky enough to pass out), Nozomi was still just a little bit perturbed by the words of the tiny substitute 'Reboyama.'<p>

'Welcome to the Vongola Family' he said.

The girl with brownish-orange hair pondered on it for a while.

Was the infant simply doing it to mortify his underprivileged student by dragging poor, innocent bystanders into the standard mafia chaos accompanied by death and unholy slaughter?

Yeah, she thought. That's probably it.

Now.

I think I should point out some rather important details about our seemly normal friend with a book complex.

Has anyone noticed that, unlike much of the student population, she thought (KNEW) that 'Reboyama' would actually follow through with his electric chair death threat?

And how she seems to know Gokudera's dynamites are perfectly capable of killing you?

And that offending and/or disobeying certain people in the room can lead to potential assassination?

And that despite all this that surely would have made ANYONE freak, _no matter how fucking calm or mentally balanced they are, _she somehow faces it with normal, human reactions and, at times of necessity, a poker face?

Yeah…

Well. It's time for some background information on our dear friend with the insane book complex.

Nozomi, as opposed to all odds and any possible theory you might have bothered to come up with, is from a different world (well…OUR world to be exact. Yeah. That one. The one with all the KHR stuff strewn about the internet).

…

Not at all believable, huh?

Well if you're THAT against the idea, feel free to treat this stuff as complete bull crap created by the over imaginative mind for your personal entertainment and do not let out your full wrath of anger against us blameless authors who hide in the corners of the world.

But with this new piece of rather important knowledge (in my opinion), it should lead to a new question.

One concerning how the hell this happened and why the heck you're doing nothing about this complete tragedy that should be grieved upon by mankind.

So.

Here's her (shortened) story.

Nozomi, Rei was presented with the complete annihilation of the world she knew when she tripped and fell down a pit with a shiny rock while on her way to BestBuy Wtih_ $200 _to spend (they weren't ever spent. At least not in the world she came from, anyways.).

She fell into the KHR world two years before the timeline started because there's just no fucking _way _that she would've landed perfectly in correspondence with the story plot because something about a sequence of events like that is just plain _wrong._

Stranded in a world she watched from a _computer screen_, the girl started her new life in hysterics and failed attempts of denial.

After a few days of shock, sulking, and living in a dark alleyway with the occasional dust bunny, Nozomi, Rei decided that standing around and waiting to die would be a rather stupid choice seeing as she had $200 bucks of American cash (which is A LOT in Japanese money) and that she actually KNEW Japanese due to her out of control foreign books fetish, Nozomi finally, after way too much delay, got a move on with life.

Speaking of which, I should stop calling her 'Nozomi.'

Her real name was Kuroi, Mori, before she went on an inter-dimensional, life-long, vacation.

'Nozomi' was a false name she came up with that translated into 'hope' which is quite ironical since at the time, she was in a completely hope-_less_ situation (I mean, she just lost her_ whole fucking world_. House, family, and friends included. Chew on _that_ for a while.).

Why the false name (along with various other things)?

If you must know, Kuroi had an immense fear of being discovered as a girl with no history whatsoever who popped out of thin air with vast knowledge of the future and the possible Apocalypse via deadly marshmallow dictator.

Yeah.

Vital information one might kill for.

Therefore, discovery can lead to interrogation, intense observation, and possibly _dissection_ for those with a nastier mind who think she's what some would call an 'alien.'

Furthermore, these facts can be added to her colossal phobia of needles, immense queasiness around tall men in dark suits (despite her KHR fetish), and an extreme loathing of any type of surgery tool.

And all _that_ added together pretty much sums up Kuroi's worst nightmare.

So understandably, Kuroi was willing to take many measures to make herself out to be a normal human being with no oddities whatsoever.

* * *

><p>Under the excuse of losing her house from fire and thus the elimination of all past history, Kuroi decided to create the cover of a single girl called 'Nozomi, Rei' whose parents were away for business while the child stays home and studies.<p>

Real casual. And normal. And ordinary.

And in no way pointing to the fact that 'Nozomi' was from another world with dangerous information.

Along with a deceitful cover-story, Kuroi obtained a new birth certificate, ID/ Passport of sorts, and a long list of perfectly sensible excuses as the why the fuck she has no history, one of them being:

"I'm am from a foreign country (with is technically true), we brought our stuff here, I have no other relatives, my parents often went by alias, and everything precious to me burned down in a fire that wrecked our home."

You can add the random tear or two every now and then while Kuroi gives a detailed description of the tragedy and how she lost her cute pet dog Fluffy alongside numerous other eloquent belongings.

Yeah. She moved them to tears. A real effective means of erasing suspicion.

And all was fabricated in the time span of precisely five minutes.

Massive, criminal-like wrongdoing aside, Kuroi successfully settled down in Namimori and was quite comfortable with life in the peaceful little town.

As opposed to popular belief, Namimori was actually a nice and beautiful little town if you avoid the Discipline Committee and act all polite and friendly.

On the outside.

Kuroi got her hands on an ordinary apartment along with ordinary clothes and an ordinary job and an ordinary appearance.

Yes, if she recalls correctly, everything she looked for just had to be perfectly _ordinary._

Two years flew by as she ever so _innocently_ watched from the sidelines while Sawada Tsunayoshi went on his way to becoming a mafia boss.

…

Okay, maybe NOT so innocently but can you blame her?

I mean_, hellooooo_? She's kind of in the world of her _favorite _anime?

How do you expect her to NOT take advantage of that?

Well, just a _bit_ anyways…

Kuroi had given in to her inner fan girl on a 'few' occasions and interacted with the characters _on a microscopic level._

I mean, it's just a conversation!...or two…but still! No harm done!

Which is why Kuroi was so casually dismissing this 'Welcome to the Vongola' invitation by Reborn since she was so used to playing the oblivious book nerd who, unbeknownst to herself, was dropping her guard due to years of peace and un-eventfulness.

Which was a grave mistake.

One that she had no fucking clue about as she somewhat cheerfully skipped her way home.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~In Sawada Tsunayoshi's Domain~<strong>_

"Oi, Dame Tsuna." Reborn said.

"Hm?" Tsuna responded, still very much focused on his video game.

Cue merciless kick to the face.

"OWW!" Tsuna screeched. "What was that for, Reborn?" He exclaimed after a brief recovery.

"Don't you 'Hm?' me, idiot. What do you know about Nozomi, Rei?"

"Wha- HIEEEEEE! Reborn, I thought you weren't serious when you said she was coming to the Vongola family!"

"Dame-Tsuna, when am I ever _not _serious about these things?"

"B-But-! She's just an ordinary student! WHY?"

"Because she'll make a fine addition to the family." Reborn explained, making it just about as clear as _mud_ as to exactly WHY the fuck 'Nozomi' will be a fine addition to a MAFIA family seeing as she's 100% human with no abilities whatsoever.

Tsuna looked like he was going to protest some more, but a venomous glare from Reborn shut him up instantly.

"I'm the one who's supposed to be asking questions, Dame-Tsuna. Now, what do you know about Nozomi, Rei."

"Well…I know her, but not REALLY since she's just a classmate…"

Insert a twice as venomous glare directed at Sawada Tsunayoshi full of malicious intent and possible torture.

"HIIEEE! I mean, I don't know her! Not at all!"

"Really." Reborn deadpanned. "You mean you've never come in contact with her at ALL?"

"Uh…nope, not really. Only the time in the streets with the bullies…the science project…when she helped me with homework…when she brought lunch and…Oh."

Uh huh.

'Oh' indeed, Tsuna realized, looking back at the massive list he conjured up by digging into past memories.

It's safe to say that 'Nozomi' wasn't QUITE as inconspicuous as she said she'd be.

Reborn looked awfully tempted to do a face palm, but instead just smacked his idiot student upside the head.

"_And you just now noticed?_" He thundered, looking at Tsuna in disbelief.

I mean, idiocy was common, but there has a be a SOME limit, right?

"I'm sorry, Reborn! It was all really long ago!" Tsuna wailed as he ran from the attack of the demon baby.

Reborn paused in his vicious beating.

"…So she hasn't made contact with you recently?"

"No!" Tsuna yelped, still trapped in his tutor's headlock despite the fact that said tutor is less than half his size.

"Hmmm…." Reborn mused.

"R-Reborn…can't…breathe…" Tsuna gasped.

Reborn promptly dumped Tsuna on the floor and wandered about, seemly lost in thought.

"R-R-Reborn?" Tsuna nervously called.

This wasn't good. Something about the look on Reborn's face spelled pure trouble.

"Tsuna, when was the last time you recall talking to her?" He suddenly asked.

"E-Eto…about three months?"

" I see…"

'_That means she stopped contacting Dame-Tsuna only just before I arrived…Interesting…Yes, VERY interesting'. _Reborn thought.

"U-Um…" Tsuna stared at his tutor with a morbid expression hoping against hope that he wasn't…

"Tsuna, we've got a mission to do." Reborn smirked.

…Oh shoot. Someone's gonna die. SOON.

And what the heck was up with that expression?

Tsuna only sweatdropped at Reborn's sly expression of a mix between excitement and sadism.

Yes, our dear Tsunayoshi knew for sure that whatever was going to happen was likely to be highly catastrophic and somehow mafia-related.

He could only pray for the health of Nozomi, Rei.

He feared for her. Truly.

And you really can't blame him.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~In Kuroi's Apartment While She's Totally Unaware of Her Incoming Doom~<strong>_

Kuroi was once again scribbling in a journal where she recorded her inner thoughts concerning some rather interesting facts about the characters she once admired.

Why?

Firstly, to assure herself that she is sane, second, to practice her English word scramble skills (You'll see why) since she dearly missed her first language, and lastly, to give her a way to double check things and figure out where the storyline is.

However, it was still mostly irrelevant facts. _Most_ly.

But, whatever. Let's get a sneak peek, shall we?

Flipping over the cover of the black journal, you come across completely un-readable English-y letters that would give anyone a splitting headache in a matter of seconds with the exception of Kuroi (I mean, Kuroi reads giant, thousand page books on a daily basis. A crazy code picture thingie is NOTHING for her.).

One's initial reaction would likely be something along the lines of 'WTF?' due to the sheer insanity of the complex code.

But since Kuroi IS writing down sacred mafia secrets, she might as well take some precaution just in case someone goes through the pain of breaking into her house and stealing her stuff and ultimately coming across this notebook of oh-so-darn-valuable secrets.

Reasonable, no?

This is one of the times in which having something of an intelligence complex comes in handy.

Just so you know, Kuroi read THE WHOLE LIBRARY of her past three schools and cities.

That includes books in foreign languages and/or retired languages in which she figured things out code breaker style and unraveled all sorts of patterns and lost symbols and utter crap most teens wouldn't think twice about.

So yeah, coming up with her own code was something of a breeze since...after you've attempted and succeeded in learning ancient Swahili symbols with no teacher whatsoever, you start thinking _most _other things are extravagantly simple compared to the hell it took to decipher those things.

Besides, Kuroi's constantly bored so it served a good way to kill time (If you think something is seriously wrong about that…I agree. To the extreme.).

* * *

><p>Massive lecture aside, here are some translated versions of the English-y code Kuroi came up with in her vast sea of boredom:<p>

Fact #1. Tsuna's gang isn't as fun as you think. By FAR.

That basic piece of information was established within three hours in which Kuroi had her first taste of hardcore mafia that is not from a computer screen.

She can guarantee you it wasn't as fun as it seemed to those watching via computer screen since crashing into a desk, having an ear drum blown up, and listening to consistent 'Hieeeee's was _quite _enough to annoy even the most dedicated fan seeing as most of these things were just flat out _painful _with no fun whatsoever.

Now, don't get me wrong.

Kuroi liked KHR.

But NOT to that level.

Those who think they can endure day after day of similar situations (or worse. Like getting caught in a bomb. With BURNS. And PAIN. And SCARS. And…yeah, you get the idea…) with no actual glory, fun, and/or attention of said admired characters, you have my respect and wonder for all eternity.

Fact #2. Reborn is pure evil. No questions asked.

I dare you to stay locked up with this guy for more than one hour.

While on screen, he seems adorable, cool, totally awesome, and one hell of a tutor, the reality is, while you think you'll get special treatment _just be- fuckin'- cause_ (Like in some random Mary-Sue fanfic) you're DEAD wrong.

In real life, the characters are unpredictable, you didn't know them as well as you think, and they are definitely not one's dream cute kid with assassin skills and wide vocabulary.

EVER.

After three classes with Reborn as a sub, Kuroi totally understood Tsuna's pain and vowed that she'll never again crack up when a scene of Reborn torturing him pops up (well…unless it was soooo hilarious and she wasn't…like say…IN the situation alongside him.).

So, word of advice: Do not expect special treatment from Reborn if you ever follow my footsteps. Especially when you see that sadistic gleam in his eyes.

Fact #3. It's all a bit sad. Really.

At first, after Kuroi had gotten her basic necessities of life under control (food, shelter, ect.), she was all hyped over the thought of being with her favorite characters.

That was before she was struck with homesickness for her family and friends a good while afterwards.

You think you'll never regret leaving your family? Think again.

Kuroi never thought she'd miss her annoying older brother or her constantly nagging mom.

Her best friend used to always be there to pester her on an hourly basis via text and without the constant 'Ting!' of the text signal, she felt a bit hollow inside.

Everything that was missing only reminded her over and over that she wasn't from this place and she couldn't go back. When the years passed by, Kuroi came to accept her situation and made some new sort-of-friends, but she was still a bit sore in the emotional area of her brain.

But then again, she effectively covered it up through a good poker face accompanied by foul mental language and a slightly negative opinion of things when she's extremely irked (Example: When she loses her place in a thousand page book).

As for the rest of the journal excluding Kuroi's personal opinions, it was mostly concerning what it was like to have front row seats in watching Tsuna's life unfold.

And we all know _that _story pretty darn well.

After adding in another paragraph to her journal, Kuroi did her school homework, ate something random, and flopped down on bed to prepare for the next day.

But disaster was about to strike.

And Kuroi never saw it coming. At _all._

* * *

><p><strong>Ehehe...the first chapter was pretty misleading, huh? I hope you don't have a problem with this plot ^^;<strong>

**Those of you who kept up with all the Welcome to Your Worst Nightmare chapters, indeed this is the very same Kuroi and some events shall be the same!...ish.**

**I took it down for some serious editing and ended up making extreme changes so I just decided to re-upload it as a different story with some similarites.**

**Those who've never heard of this and think I'm crazy, good for you, ignore my authors note! **

**See ya, and Happy Thanksgiving! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Really, really fast update this time!**

**Please excuse any mistakes and enjoy the latest chapter!**

* * *

><p>The next day in class, thing were…mostly ordinary (at least as ordinary as it can get in the KHR world.).<p>

With the exception of numerous floating objects that meant Futa was here, all was well since Reborn wasn't impersonating the teacher, Gokudera did not make her lose her place in her book, and Tsuna was just sending nervous glances in her direction like he knew something about her and he was to do something and…wait, what?

Kuroi, currently in her 'Nozomi' masquerade, looked at Tsuna again to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

Oh yes, he was trying to inconspicuously glance at her (and failing to) for some reason as if she was some kind of dangerous beast he was to capture for Reborn.

…

Somehow, Kuroi didn't doubt that idea very much.

She was also fully aware of more random floating objects near the door that meant Futa was stalking Tsuna and that something was off since Tsuna should be standing in the hall with him.

The whole day, Tsuna was uncharacteristically shifty and during lunch while pretending to read her book because some idiots can't tell the difference between spying over the top of the book and actual reading, Kuroi saw Tsuna gather with Yamamoto and Gokudera.

She thought it would be a good time to disappear since pulling together the failed inconspicuous glances and suspicious killing intent directed at Tsuna from some unknown place plus the Vongola invitation of yesterday, SHE was probably involved.

WHICH IS NOT GOOD.

Swiftly exiting the door and grabbing her lunch, Kuroi tried to come up with a place to hide were evil Mafioso hunting down innocent little aliens won't find.

'Roof is out of the option…Another classroom is intended failure because with my luck I'll run into Ryohei or something (because freaky coincedences are just SO damn common in this world), Reception Room…is death…and an tree? Maybe…' She kept brainstorming until it finally hit her.

'The other rooftop! The smaller one where nobody ever visits!'

And so she headed off to the other rooftop in hopes of avoiding Tsuna and co. plus Hibari and the Discipline Committee (since they're frigging SCARY in real life) and possibly Reborn.

She reached the hiding place in one piece and observed the area.

It was pretty spacious and there were many escape routes (Ha. She's so paranoid.) and in general, it was pretty nice with the shade and all.

Kuroi settled down with lunch and told herself to just _chill_ and enjoy life because she will most definitely not be stalked by dynamite wielding Mafioso who burn her books (unknowningly) or pursued by evil babies out to test her and recruit _because he said so._

Oh, how wrong she was, desperately clinging to this delusion.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~With Tsuna in the Classroom (That's mostly empty)~<strong>_

Tsuna, Gokudera and Yamamoto were crowded around Tsuna's desk with Reborn in the middle and Futa standing nearby.

"Reborn-san, what is it that the Tenth said you wanted to tell us?" Gokudera asked.

Reborn grinned. One could swear there was a momentary flash of the devil's eyes behind him.

"I have a mission I want the three of you to do." He smirked.

Gokudera's eyes immediately lit up with excitement and he stood up from his chair.

"What sort of mission? I promise that I, Gokudera Hayato, will fulfill it with all my might! Who do I need to assassinate?" He exclaimed, already whipping out his dynamite and eyeing other people in the room as if they might be his targets.

"G-Gokudera-kun! Calm down, you don't need to kill anyone!" Tsuna said, sweatdropping.

"Ahaha! Sounds fun, I can't wait!" Yamamoto laughed.

"Yakuu-Baka, I'll definitely complete the mission before you lift a finger!" Gokudera declared.

"Maa, clam down you guys. And by the way, you have to work together for this." Reborn said patiently, motioning for them to settle down.

The three obliged because who _knows _would horrendous misfortune might befall one who didn't and Gokudera grudgingly declared peace and alliance with Yamamoto.

"Your mission…is to capture a girl called Nozomi, Rei, and bring her to Tsuna's house by any means possible."

"HEEEI! Reborn, yesterday, you told me that we were only going to have a friendly chat with her!" Tsuna cried, clutching his hair in panic.

Reborn ignored him and continued on because tunas, unlike humans, were not intelligent beings worthy of being recognized and listened to. Especially by the world's #1 hitman.

"You can do whatever it takes, but make sure she's alive and fully intact when you get her. You have a week, but during class is the neutral time-zone and no one can lift a finger. By the way, since Futa is here, he can help you."

Futa waved and smiled.

"I'll do my best, Tsuna-nii!"

"Yes! I shall complete the mission, Reborn-san!" Gokudera said, looking ready to roll.

"Ahaha! Like a game of tag, huh?" And that led to another argument between the baseball idiot and the bomber boy.

Tsuna just repeatedly screamed 'HIIEEEE!' his head and prayed Nozomi (oh, the poor, poor girl) would survive this thing because he knew things were going to get messy. Soon.

"Here's her picture." Reborn said, giving a clear picture of 'Nozomi' to everyone and watching their reactions.

In the picture was a girl with light orange-ish brown hair that reached mid-back in pigtails, dark eyes, and average height.

**(A/N: There's a link to her picture on my profile.)**

"Hey-! This is!" Gokudera exclaimed. _THIS IS THE GIRL WHO SITS NEXT TO ME!...wait, is that why Reborn said to not lift a finger during class? I can't figure out why, but Reborn-san always has his reasons! Judaimei, I shall capture this girl as soon as possible! Just watch!_

"Ahaha! I think I've met her before."

"Eh? I don't think I have rankings for this person…" Futa said.

"…" and Tsuna was sunk in depression for some weird, unknown reason.

"Classes don't start for another thirty minutes and she's on school campus so you guys should get started!" Reborn announced.

And soon Gokudera was sprinting down the hallways with a laughing Yamamoto and a bruised Tsuna ("Dame-Tsuna! You have to go too!" was how Reborn persuaded him) with Futa alongside them all.

Reborn chuckled as he watched.

This will be interesting.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~With Kuroi, aka 'Nozomi'~<strong>_

Kuroi suddenly sneezed as she threw away the remains of her lunch.

She sighed.

For some reason, she had the strangest feeling that a catastrophe was coming.

And that she was involved.

But she decided to shrug it off, brought out her latest book, and sat down to enjoy life while she can because you never know when some random Mafia family might take interest in you and involve you in an outrageous scheme likely to end with many casualties.

This particular decision was not a very good choice.

_**~With Tsuna~**_

The four of them ran around the hallways frantically and searched every classroom for 'Nozomi, Rei' while yelling at terrified students,

"HAVE YOU SEEN NOZOMI, REI?" while holding dynamite plus waving a picture and receiving the response of,

"I've never seen her! I swear!"

Frustration was building and the four decided to take a break from sprinting down the halls at full speed and running over various random people who had the misfortune to be in their way.

"Damn! Where could that girl be?" Gokudera yelled as they searched yet another classroom that was, like all others, missing a certain orange-haired girl they were hunting for.

"Ahahaha! She sure is good at hiding!" Yamamoto said while checking another room. Nope, no Nozomi here.

"Haa….Haa…" And Tsuna can't even talk because his physical skills suck balls. Even more than Futa (I mean…at least Futa's breathing properly).

Then Futa came up with a great idea to save them all from complete failure on their first day of the mission assigned to them by Reborn himself that they simply _can't _ fail because that would mean certain death and considerable pain.

"I know! Let's do a ranking of 'Nozomi, Rei's Top Hiding Places!" He exclaimed.

That made everyone perk up.

"Of course! Do it!" Gokudera commanded.

"Wow, Futa's really smart." Tsuna said after recovering his breath.

Futa did his thing and dust and other junk started levitating around him.

"This is Futa…I can hear you, ranking star."

The others watched with anticipation as Futa worked his magic and started his rankings.

"Nozomi-san's #1 Hiding place is…on the school's opposite roof near the reception room."

"YOSH! LET'S GO!" Gokudera yelled, charging full speed ahead with the others trailing behind him.

Now.

In case you haven't noticed, the words 'Reception Room' were mentioned and if you put together the vastly unoccupied roof + Discipline Committee Head present within the school campus + the Reception Room nearby = Yikes.

But Tsuna and the others, being headstrong Mafioso with a duty to fulfill, charged straight forwards without a single thought about the obvious hints of: If you create a ruckus, possible death may occur via Hibari, Kyoya's wrath of doom.

And so they headed up the stairs…and slammed open the door…

* * *

><p><em><strong>~With Kuroi ~<strong>_

The door burst open and a yell of "THERE YOU ARE!" penetrated the calm peacefulness of the scene.

Kuroi gaped as Gokudera whipped out his dynamite and hurled them at her, fully intent on doing damage while the shocked girl stared at them.

She had many thoughts along the lines of _WTF? _and, _What did I do to you? _before she snapped out of her daze and hit the deck with all her might, the most sensible thing to do when dynamites are hurled at you.

Luckily, they blew up without hurting her, but then she realized the other threat.

"GO, Baseball-idiot!" Gokudera hollered as he ran forwards along with Tsuna and Futa in Kuroi's direction.

Yamamoto, being the most athletic, led the way as everyone pursued the fleeing girl through the door on the other side of the clearing.

Not the brightest idea.

Kuroi knew for certain that _She's gonna fucking die _if they catch her (which they obviously want to do judging from their actions) and that Reborn was probably behind this and her days of peace and happiness are so far gone it was pathetic really.

The poor girl sprinted down the hall at full speed (with is NOT that fast) from her rapidly gaining pursuers and flew past a certain door of a demon's lair.

She had a wonderful idea.

One that can possibly save her life.

...By damning the life of someone else.

Deliberately, she tosses her book behind her and it miraculously hit Gokudera in the face as they _just so happened _to speed by the room in which Hibari occupies with his spare time. Which is right now.

Then Gokudera, because he was the smartest thing, like, _ever _made the ever-so-fucking-_intelligent _decision of screaming at the top of his lungs _right outside the Reception Room door._

What a wonderful way to use one's common sense.

So really, you can't blame Hibari for walking out of the Reception Room just as Tsuna (who was lagging behind) ran forwards and, to our dear Tunafish's horror, emitting the the most massive amount of killing intent ever known to mankind with the feared catchphrase of "I'll bite you to death."

The scenes following that tragic incident were too gory to be described with mere words.

When Gokudera and Yamamoto heard Tsuna's ear-splitting (and really, really girly) shriek of pain induced by cold steel tonfas pounding into his skull and just about every other bone in his body, they turned around and ran to his aid, Kuroi being forgotten in their panic to rescue Tsuna.

With a small sigh of relief and a wince of sympathy for Tsuna, she ran off and started formulating a plan in hopes of surviving a couple more hours.

Which is good.

Because, unbeknownst to her, a certain person was going to be crying for her blood tomorrow.

Armed.

And highly dangerous.

More than one of them, too.

* * *

><p><strong>And...done!<strong>

**Review for my hard work? Pretty please? *Puppy dog eyes***

**Those who are bored of waiting, you can always go vote in my poll or check out my other KHR fanfic, Epic Tales of New Mafioso!**

**Ciao~**


	4. Chapter 4

**THANK YOU FOR ALL THE REVIEWS! As well as faves, alerts, and for reading this thing!**

**Enjoy~!**

* * *

><p>In a dingy apartment on top of her simple white bed, Kuroi wasted a grand total of three hours and forty-five minutes trying to come up with a way to survive 'till her next birthday.<p>

Or at least die as painlessly as possible.

Her results so far? Absolute zilch.

With a groan of despair because she just _knew _the next day was going to be one heck of a hell hole due to what she unleashed on Tsuna (She didn't mean for him to get THAT beat up! It was…um…last resort escape plan for the sake of Kuroi's life! A worthy sacrifice!), Kuroi rolled over and attempted to sleep.

She hoped she didn't have nightmares. Not when she was practically living in one at this point.

_**~At Sawada Tsunayoshi's Noisy Domain~**_

"That damn woman's gonna die! I'll kill her myself!" Gokudera snarled at no one in particular.

"C-Calm down! It's not her fault! We were the ones screaming outside the Reception Room!" Tsuna cried, holding Gokudera down as he made movements to leap out the window in pursuit of one 'Nozomi, Rei' to present her with imminent death.

Really not the best of things one could wish for.

"Maa, maa, calm down, she didn't mean to! We were the ones chasing her after all!"

"Are you kidding me? SHE ASSAULTED ME WITH BOOKS!" Gokudera yelled, still looking downright murderous.

"Instead of arguing, shouldn't you be coming up with a plan?" Reborn suggested while sipping coffee.

"H-Hai, Reborn-san!" And so the crazy dynamite freak calmed down at long last.

…But he was still dead set on exacting revenge on a certain little book-nerd.

"Reborn…" Tsuna said exasperatedly. "Why are we trying to capture her again? And don't say something like 'for the sake of the Vongola Family' or whatever."

Cue the point of a gun landing right smack in the middle of Tsuna's forehead.

"HIIEEE! I'm sorry!"

"Good. Don't you dare talk to me with that tone." Reborn says, withdrawing his gun.

Then he took another sip of coffee and started talking.

"After visiting Dame-Tsuna's class, I did some research on Nozomi, Rei ." He started, pausing for dramatic effect or something and looking around the table at the Vongola Guardians.

Yamamoto, Gokudera, and Tsuna all listened intently for fear of what could happen if they didn't (like say…having a bomb hidden in their bed or an alligator in the bathroom. Or electric eels. And porcupines. All that other good stuff.), and because they were genuinely curious as to what made this girl get attention from _Reborn _of all people.

"I found nothing." The tiny hitman stated flatly with a hint of annoyance.

Now _that _was a shock.

Reborn, the number one hitman, found absolutely no information when he was serious? What is this, the Apocalypse?…Maybe.

But anyways, this remark caught everyone off guard and they had various reactions going from a shriek of "EEEEHHHHH?" to, "WHAT? REBORN-SAN, ARE YOU SERIOUS?" to, "Ahaha, that's interesting!"

Yes. Beautiful reactions indeed.

Reborn promptly sent them all a glare that translated into "Shut up and listen, because I'm not repeating this twice."

Everyone shut up accordingly. Then the tiny hitman proceeded on with his speech.

"Yes, I'm serious. Nozomi, Rei has no history beyond the fact that she showed up here in Namimori mysteriously a few years ago and settled down. There's nothing about her parents, family, or relationships and I had no results even when I used Vongola's resources to search for her background."

"Reborn-san! Does that mean that…She's an assassin?" Gokudera exclaimed, drawing the conclusion of your typical Mafioso.

"Ehhh…Wow, I never knew there was such a mysterious person in our class! Ahaha!" and Yamamoto is all casual and cheerful as usual.

"Reborn! That can't be!" Tsuna yelled, "I used to hang out with her a lot! I'm pretty sure she would never be an assassin from another mafia family!"

"Ju-Judaimei…"

"Tsuna…"

Reborn smirked for some reason. Then he did a mimicry of Tsuna's words.

"'She'd never be an assassin from another mafia family!' Looks like you've accepted the possibilities and the fact that you are to be a mafia boss." He chuckled, looking triumph.

"Huh?"

Tsuna replayed his words in his mind.

Oh. Yeah, he did say that…shoot.

"That's beyond the point!" Tsuna said, flushing from embarrassment because there was just no fucking _way _he was going to accept being a mafia boss and Kuroi was his friend and– and –And what?

Wait…Kuroi? Where did that name come from? Wasn't the girl they were looking for called 'Nozomi' ?

He must have gotten the names mixed up somehow…

Reborn merely looked at Tsuna for a couple more seconds and then went on with his talk.

"Don't worry, Gokudera. Nozomi, Rei does not have malicious intentions. We know that for sure."

"Then why are we pursuing her?" Gokdudera inquired, not exactly accepting the fact that this 'Nozomi' girl who hit him right smack in the face with a book (an insult punishable by death in mafia) wasn't their enemy.

Reborn's eyes suddenly got a mischievous look about them and Tsuna gulped as he realized the devil baby had something nasty planned for them.

"I want her to join the Vongola. Think about it. A girl with no history or past that ANY family knows about. Someone like this…How many ways would she be able to strengthen us?" Reborn said.

"I see!" Gokudera exclaimed, suddenly enlightened with why they were trying so hard to capture her.

"Hm? I don't see, but it sounds fun!" Yamamoto cheerfully proclaimed, oblivious to the incredulous look on Tsuna's face as laughed.

"Baseball idiot! We can use her as a spy! Or a secret weapon! Having a complete cover while no family has any information about you is the greatest advantage a Mafioso can have! Right, Reborn?"

Reborn nodded and said, "Even _I_ don't have that kind of advantage. It'd be best to chain her to Vongola before another family finds her."

Smart. Real smart, seeing as this was _Reborn _for Pete's sake.

In the mind of the #1 hitman, someone with so much mystery is both a dangerous threat and a blooming potential. Two sides of a coin. He just hopes they land on the good side.

"Now that you know why, how about you get cracking on that plan for tomorrow?"

"Reborn, how come you don't just tell her outright and recruit her the straightforward way?" Tsuna asked.

Yes, he understood why she was sooooo friggin' vital to their family (and because the look in Reborn's eyes told him that hell can freeze over before the little infant'll give up on this mysterious catch), but he didn't get why they were being so roundabout with this thing.

Reborn smirked.

"Because it's more fun this way."…And because he's already told her, right in the face, 'Welcome to the Vongola.'

A fact that 'Nozomi' deliberately overlooked.

Tsuna nearly facepalmed at that.

"Ahaha! Hey, kid, can you help us with a plan? You're the smartest!" says our dearest baseball nut.

"I'll help you out if it you desperately need it. In the meantime, think of this as a test. One, for seeing if Nozomi, Rei is worthy and two, for seeing just how clever you guys can be. Good luck and don't forget the rules."

Then he somehow changed into pink PJ's in less than a second and fell onto bed with a little snot bubble to signal: You're on your own from now on, Dame-Tsuna.

A wonderful revelation indeed.

It helps that Gokudera and Yamamoto were so frigging enthusiastic about this thing.

"Yosh! Come on, baseball-idiot! We need to get cracking!" Gokudera hollered while drawing this insanely complex plan-ish thing on a blank piece of paper that popped out of nowhere.

Tsuna groaned loudly on the inside.

Why did it always turn out like this?

Oh right. It was Reborn's doing. *Sigh*

* * *

><p><em><strong>~The Next Day~<strong>_

Kuroi woke up at 5:30 in the morning and resumed her plotting on how to survive the following 24 hours without being maimed, traumatized, killed, kidnapped, or abused by Mafioso in any way.

A very difficult thing to do, seeing as she's in the same class as said Mafioso.

But…they wouldn't assault her in the middle of class, right? I mean…that would be a little overkill, even for Reborn and it would expose the Vongola family and give her a legit reason to sue and...yeah.

All sorts of stuff.

So Kuroi decided to base her survival plan on the fact that during class was the neutral time zone.

A very wise decision.

Now, what would she do if she was in Tsuna's place?

Well…seeing as all students must pass through the front gate to get in, staking out there for an ambush would be the perfect way to catch her.

So she's needs to avoid the gates. But she can't cut class.

Not unless she wants to die premature death through abusive tonfa-ing and icy glares.

So now, from here on out, how would she get to class without being ambushed? (Because she just KNEW something would happen and she, for one, was not going to be an idiot and throw caution to the wind. Her life was on the line!)

After pondering some more, Kuroi had one of those 'AHA!' light bulb moments and rapidly put on her uniform.

She had a plan (finally, after three hours, forty-five minutes, and the thirty-seven seconds that passed as she woke up).

She just hoped her connections were still as strong as they were in the past.

_**~With Tsuna~**_

Tsuna yawned as he woke up at 6:00 in the morning.

Today was the day they put 'The Great Plan to Capture Nozomi, Rei' in action.

Honestly, he couldn't believe that Gokudera had such an…eloquent and unique…naming sense.

Really.

But anyways, their sadly predictable strategy was, as Kuroi assumed, to ambush her at the school gates because every student had to pass there and it was a guaranteed way to have an encounter.

Which basically meant they were all going to school extra early to hide behind the gate like creepy stalkers and wait in anticipation.

Tsuna put on his uniform messily and hurried downstairs, oblivious to Reborn's amused staring, and left a note on the table saying 'I went to school early for tutoring.'

A very believable lie. Especially since he has a demonic home tutor from the mafia right under his nose.

Yes. Very believable.

So the dear Tuna met with his friends at the crossroads and did some reviewing over what shall take place today.

Their plan was very detailed with A LOT of back up plans to use throughout the day because not even _they _were cocky enough to believe they'll catch their target on the first go.

Especially a target that thwarted their previous attempt quite smoothly, in their opinions.

So. Here's the list.

Plan A: Stake out at the school gates and wait for target to enter sight. Once spotted, whisk her away to some shadowy corner, tie her up, and send her wrapped in ribbons to the doorstep of the Sawada Household.

(**Tsuna:** WHY? **Gokudera: **Reborn-san said to bring her there! And we can't exactly drag her along everywhere in school…**Yamamoto: **Ahaha! Cool, are we shooting an act or something? **Others: **…*facepalm*)

Plan B: After the first half of class when lunch break starts, divide up radios and have everyone split up and search for the target. Once target is found, trail target and inform the others of the target's location. Then surround and ambush.

(**Tsuna: **Why do I have to do this…**Reborn: **If you fail, I'll put you through Reborn Style Training Phrase 2 all over again. **Tsuna: **HIIEEEE!)

Plan C Last Resort Strategy:

(**Gokudera: **Judaimei, this one is most likely to succeed! **Yamamoto: **Ahaha! This is exciting! I can't wait! **Tsuna: **I hope no one gets hurt…)

Call together entire Vongola family and team up to capture target no matter where she may go! Bianchi can set traps, the stupid cow can be a distraction and Futa'll tell us her whereabouts! Together, we'll be unstoppable! Nozomi, Rei will be captured!

(**Reborn: **Don't forget you have school the next day so midnight is the time limit. Remember that this is also a test. Think of it as a game. **Gokudera: **Hai, Reborn-san! **Tsuna: ** I feel the coming of disaster for some reason...)

Hm. This is going to end well, huh?

* * *

><p><em><strong>~With Kuroi~<strong>_

She took a deep breath.

_Suicide lane, here I come _She thought.

Please, please, _please _let it be that her relationships were still good! All her hopes are riding on this!

It front of her…was the school gate.

At 5:45 in the morning so of course, there was no one there.

No one except the kind, caring Discipline Committee that was dedicated to beating whatever trespasser to a bloody pulp because Nami-Chu before class starts is strictly only for Hibari and his sidekicks.

Also the biggest flaw in Kuroi's plan.

She wiped her sweaty palms nervously as she prepared herself.

All her plans ride on this and if it fails…She might as well surrender to Tsuna and his gang (and whatever hideous fate awaits her with the accompaniment of Reborn) for this was the most vital part of her strategy.

Repeating a silent mantra of _I can do this, I can do this, I can do this, _Kuroi walked up to one of the perfects and said, to their utter shock,

"May I have an audience with Hibari, Kyoya?"

Kusakabe's twig thing dropped straight out of his mouth and the younger perfect beside him promptly fainted muttering "Our precious school has turned suicidal…"

Kuroi looked at this with an uneasy expression and had inner panic sessions while contemplating the chances of running for it now and abandoning the plan entirely.

She never did make up her mind.

After recovering from over-exaggerated shock, Kusakube regained his composure and asked, with a serious, 'this is life and death' expression,

"Are. You. Sure."

"Y-yes." Kuroi stammered, sounding as sure as heck to the rest of the world with her stuttering and barely audible whisper.

"Pardon? I didn't quite catch that."

Kuroi took three deep breaths and then said in a firmer tone,

"Yes, I'd like to see Hibari, Kyoya."

'…at five in the fuckin' morning? Is this kid truly suicidal?' was what Kusakabe thought as he shook his head in disbelief.

"Alright. I'll ring him up first so hold on a minute." said the Vice-Chairman as he whipped out his cell phone and nervously called the Chairman since after all, no one knew whether or not Hibari was a morning person and Kusakabe had no intentions of finding out the hard way so he decided phoning him first would be a nice precaution.

If the first words he heard were "I'll bite you to death, Herbivore." accompanied by killing intent that leaked through the frigging PHONE then the Vice-President will respectably hang up and inform this student that if she wants to live to see another sunrise…do not go.

Because she'll die. For real.

Or at least be sent to the hospital with permanent injuries to scar her for the rest of her (short) life.

A voice replied.

Kuroi watched hopefully.

Kusukabe gulped nervously.

Then, a civilized voice without outrageous amounts of killing intent answered with, much to both Kuroi and Kusakabe's relief, "Kusakabe Tetsuya, why are you calling me?"

It was truly a miracle.

No death threat, no 'I'll bite you to death', and most of all, no signs of a foul mood or killing intentions.

Which meant that Kuroi now had a 1% chance of coming back from this meeting alive with all her limbs intact and a mind that functioned properly.

Yep. Wonderful odds. She was _so _darn happy that instant death was just…oh…a 99% chance from here on out.

But extremely relived sighs and _Phew, we'll live_'s aside, Kusakabe quickly informed Hibari about the innocent girl's (suicidal) request to talk to him in person.

There was a pause. Kuroi held her breath.

Then the cold voice asked, "What's the herbivore's name?"

Kusukabe turned to Kuroi with 'the look.'

Kuroi pondered on this perfectly logical question. Should she use her alias 'Nozomi' or her true name?

Which one had a better chance of her getting out of here alive?

…"Tell him I'm Kuroi." She said after a brief pause.

Then she nervously twiddled her fingers as astonishment lit the Vice Chairman's eyes and he relayed the message to Hibari.

Then he put up the cell phone.

"You have permission." He said, looking pretty dazed for multiple reasons.

#1: Was this girl who he thought she was? There's no way…They all thought she mysteriously vanished…

#2: Hibari knew her. He said YES to meeting her. Holy shit. What's the world coming to?

#3: The chairman's surprisingly…uh…_less murderous _in the mornings. He should remember that for future purposes.

And so…the pair entered the school in preparation to have a 'little chat' with the feared ice prince of the Discipline Committee.

Good timing, too.

Because about half a second after the door shut behind them…_certain figures _arrived at the gate with…nets, ropes, and handcuffs?

* * *

><p><strong>Whew! Done! Thanks for reading and please review? :)<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

_**~Flashback of the Past~**_

At the beginning, Kuroi had some serious difficulties accepting the fact that her situation was reality and not some crazy-ass nightmare that bestowed itself upon her through malfunctioning brain cells.

To be specific, she had rammed her head on a wall multiple times, camped out in the empty alleyway nearby with her back turned against the world for several days, and had even tried knocking herself out via crazed charging at a pole.

All her plans ended in dismal failure.

So she faced the truth.

_What if she can't get back home...?_

Sure, it'd be kinda cool.

As well as freaky, hellish, depressing and all that other stuff that hits you when you realize your family thinks you're dead, you're stranded in the middle of nowhere, and possible Apocalypse loomed in the future.

Wonderful things. She can definitely cope with it.

But she just knew that she did not want anything to do with Sawada Tsunayoshi.

It wasn't out of rejection or cruelty or plain hatred due to the fact that this world (more specifically, the dark mafia world that ruled from the shadows) practically revolved around him. He'd get along fine on his own without her help.

It was just that getting involved with his life was a one-way ticket to an early grave accompanied by blood and bullets especially considering his future enemies that can easily transform Kuroi into something resembling an old dog toy put through the teeth of a vicious hound.

And she totally wants _that_ to happen.

So if she was lucky, she'd never meet Tsuna and his gang of homicidal Mafioso EVER. Or his sadistic tutor. Or Varia. Or the Ninth.

Yeah, the Ninth was most definitely on her 'people to avoid at all costs or risk certain death' list.

Maybe if she didn't get involved, things would turn out okay.

It would all roll smoothly, the world will be saved, the marshmallow dictator will be defeated, and all will go according to the plan that the brilliant Amano Akira created.

Right. No problems.

Just avoid one deadly Tunafish and you'll have a nice, bright future ahead of you.

Got it.

That plan lasted for one measly week until some twist of fate threw her right onto the scene of an innocent 9-year-old being beaten by hateful bullies out for blood.

Kuroi used all her will power to tear her eyes away from the grisly sight and maintain resolve to stay uninvolved with one Sawada Tsunayoshi but…

She looked back.

Only a couple more steps before she could turn a corner, but she still looked back.

With a tattered shirt and countless bruises, innocent eyes filled with unjustified pain burned into Kuroi's very soul as the brown haired boy sent her a silent plea for help.

Oh, why, why, WHY did she have to look? Now she simply _couldn't _turn back.

Not after being subjected to such a pitiful cry of help.

Not after seeing such unjust treatment inflected on the weaker ones.

And most of all, not after the way his eyes called to her, saying that not helping would be a heinous crime that would scar her forever.

So Kuroi entered the scene, armed with a sweet smile and an oversized baseball cub filled with sharp, rusted nails that gleamed evilly.

The tormenters promptly broke all Olympic records running away from her at breakneck speed.

Maybe she went overboard…But the cub was RIGHT THERE!

It was just _perfect _for the situation!

So why not? And it did its job so well…

From there, Kuroi had intended to leave. Her work was officially done.

Finished. Nothing more to it.

But it was at a time like this that Kuroi hated herself because looking up at her for the second time that day with eyes filled with wonder was the young Tsunayoshi covered in wounds, both emotional and physical.

Tear-filled eyes stared at her in…admiration? Astonishment? Something like that…

"Onee-chan…when I get better, someday, can you play with me?"

Fluffy brown hair framed a torn face.

Wide eyes beckoned for acceptance in this cruel, harsh world.

Kuroi decided that she'll kill herself later.

"Of course." She responded after her inner struggle ceased, picking him up and taking him back to his house.

One childhood friend can't change anything, right?

* * *

><p>Some time later, Tsuna's bullying became considerably less frequent and good old Kuroi just <em>might <em>be one of the main reasons.

Since the whole 'I shall not befriend Sawada Tsunayoshi' resolution was thrown out the window after the bully fiasco, Kuroi took it upon herself to risk her neck and pay a visit to the Discipline Committee for the sake of her new young and naïve friend.

At the demon's lair, she was prematurely scarred for life by the younger Hibari Kyoya who ruled with an iron fist from the shadows of Namimori Underworld.

Truly a deadly force to be reckoned with.

After standing up to his subordinates, taking a few blows to the face, and swallowing her endless pit of fear, Kuroi earned her audience with Hibari and merely 'suggested' that he patrol around certain parts of town after school when students are released.

Coincidentally, that time was the same time in which Tsuna had to walk back home alone with no protection.

Interesting that black coated teens with metal sticks suddenly started taking casual strolls wherever little Tsunayoshi happened to be alone at night.

Hm. His luck must have finally started looking up.

With this, Kuroi earned a reputation as a reliable source of information for anything not-so-harmless that happens in Namimori that the Discipline Committee should know about.

She was all too happy to take up that position.

Really.

It had nothing to do with the numerous intimidating stares that surrounded her at the time and screamed certain death to refusal or objections.

Right. Totally unrelated.

True to her word, Kuroi supplied them with a steady stream of info, but for some reason, her aid was mysteriously cut off after one year and Kuroi, Mori had never again contacted them.

Rumors of a similar girl entering Nami-Chu were heard, but such things weren't taken seriously seeing as the 'similar student' had a different name and personality.

She was assumed to have left Namimori permanently.

Until now.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Present Time~<strong>_

Kuroi stood before Hibari's desk fidgeting nervously as Kusakabe bowed and hurriedly left them alone to have a civilized chat.

She gulped as she recalled the first time she came up to the feared Chairman.

When she stated her name, he had responded with a tonfa to the throat followed by,

'Herbivore. Do not lie to me. State your true name. '

How he saw through her facade at the first glance, she had no idea.

But this was HIBARI so it wasn't impossible and that encounter was also the sole reason Kuroi then spent 17 hours working on the most ridiculous exercises to make the pronunciation of her name betray absolutely NOTHING about her.

Hibari the bloodthirsty genius had caught her off guard when she was an amateur. She'd never make such a mistake ever again.

So now, as she stood before him restraining the urge to run out of the city at speeds that would put a rocket to shame, Kuroi desperately prayed that some divine being would intervene if things go wrong.

The greeting was simple.

"Herbivore."

"Hibari, Kyoya."

Alright. She can talk without having a mental break down. That's one issue solved. Next, presenting her request.

Yeah, that's right. She was going to have to ask HIBARI for a favor.

Damn suicidal. But it's worth it if she survives the week with all limbs intact.

"You remember that time I nearly died to provide information to the Discipline Committee?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Yes. And I'm assuming you're here to make us pay the debt." Hibari said.

Kuroi gave a start of surprise before swallowing it down ad settling for staring at Hibari instead.

It was freaky how he seemed to know everything.

The subject on hand was about the time an armed secret gang determined to take down the Discipline Committee popped up and threated the civilians to keep silence on their less-than-innocent actions.

Kuroi was right there at gunpoint when it happened (They had frigging shotguns!) and was left with two options:

1. To not tell Hibari and wind up a deformed bloody pulp for withholding information when the gangs attack him because as a civilian, she'd know this kinda stuff. And then HE'LL know that she should've known. Which means she'll DIE afterwards.

Or,

2. Possibly risk getting shot by a crazy gangster armed with shotguns if THEY find out she snitched on them before Hibari gets on the case. Very likely since all the civilians were more than willing to sacrifice her and to save themselves instead. They were such wonderful neighbors.

It was a hard choice. A lose-lose situation if anything goes wrong.

In the end, she stuck with option #1 because Hibari trumps everything in terms of pain inducing capabilities and sadism (You just KNOW he's a sadist!).

True, she got found out, tracked down, and nearly killed before Hibari took them all out but luckily, she _only_ ended up in the hospital for a few months with a torn ribcage and punctured lung after the two forces collided.

She was never reprimanded for her actions.

Which meant that these guys still owned a big fat favor to her on top of paying for her hospital bills and letting her off the hook of the whole 'You shall forever be our civilian spy' thing.

And now was a good time to use that seeing as even though a year had passed, the debt was still in play.

"Right." Kuroi said. "I have a favor to ask regarding the school."

And THEN Hibari gives her the deadly murderous glare that he might have been holding back for a while.

Kuroi hastily clarified her request to avoid a potentially life threatening misunderstanding.

"Nothing like that!" Because we all know Hibari loves the school more than anything.

"I just want permission to come on campus extremely early in the morning and stay over sometime after classes and club activities are over."

At this, Hibari slightly lessened the intensity of his glare (though it was still damn scary), and he gave her a calculating look followed by a simple statement.

"Why."

And now the problematic part.

"...Because I love the school?"

What? She thought he wouldn't _care _for reasons! She was just coming to class early for Pete's sake!

It wasn't suspicious or dangerous so she thought he'd just let her go without any hassle!

And – And –

…She just didn't prepare. So it's really all her own damn fault that she's in this predicament.

In response to her lame excuse, Hibari gave a deadpan glare that clearly spelled 'Don't give me that bullshit' in big, bold letters.

Kuroi sweatdropped at this and mentally berated herself for coming up with the lamest excuse ever and then fervently combed her brain for a slightly more legitimate reason.

Results?

...Nothing half-decent that HIBARI would fall for.

So she stuck with the truth instead.

"Okay, I'm having…_issues…_with certain people and entering or exiting through the gates with everyone else will get me killed so…I need to make some detours."

"Hn. Is that so?"

"Er…"

And now Kuroi was stuck.

She didn't know what else to say seeing as she already told him pretty much everything she could afford to tell and all that was left was his decision.

So she waited in anticipation.

And waited.

And waited.

And nearly died of hyperventilating nerves as Hibari took his sweet time responding to the question that could decide Kuroi's life or death.

Finally, when Kuroi was near fainting from lightheaded-ness…

"Very well. I'll tell the others to allow you on school property before and after hours."

"Thank you so much! I owe you one!" Kuroi gushed, about to start a long tirade of 'Thank you, thank you, thank you!'s then remembering not to since it would just piss Hibari off and jeopardize her newly made deal.

Just as she was about to leave, she whipped around and added one more thing to her innocent request.

"Oh, and…Can I borrow some rope?"

* * *

><p><em><strong>~With Tsuna and Co.~<strong>_

While Kuroi happily skipped down the hall and set her plan in action, Tsuna and the gang crouched in the shadows of the school gate suffering severe muscle pains that come with sitting still for a couple hours not moving.

They were tired. They were sleep deprived.

And one of them was ready to strangle the lights out of a certain orange-headed girl the moment they spotted her.

While Gokudera swore like a sailor in hissy undertones, Tsuna did his own inner rant about Reborn and his sadism while Yamamoto cheerfully tagged along, somehow not affected by the muscle spasms his fellow kidnappers were experiencing.

"Damn! Where the hell is that women?" Gokudera growled under his breath.

"I-I'm sure she'll show up eventually…" Tsuna whispered in a hushed tone.

Minutes ticked out the door.

Numerous students went in the door.

The orange haired target never showed up at the door.

And after the bell rang, Gokudera promptly exploded with anger due to the fact that Plan A had failed and they had successfully wasted about three hours crouching under a gate waiting for some idiot girl who never showed up.

While the trio made their way to class after accepting mission failure, they had a civilized little chat on how the target managed to avoid them…again.

"It's not POSSIBLE that she didn't show up at the gates! She must have decided to skip class or something!" Gokudera ranted, throwing his hands in the air.

"Ahaha! Who knows, maybe she teleported in or something!" Yamamoto laughed, walking alongside them without a care in the world.

"Baseball idiot! This is reality, not science fiction! Though if that was so, then she'd be a UMA with psychic powers and…and…*incomprehensible muttering of crazy person*"

It might've been something on aliens.

Which was actually kinda accurate if you count coming from another dimension being an alien.

Maybe Gokudera's wish has finally been granted.

"Well there's always next time." Tsuna sighed, inwardly wishing that 'Nozomi' would just turn herself in and make his life a hell of a lot less painful when Reborn finds out he failed.

And so, the gang headed off to class, wondering how they were going catch their target if she didn't show up at school in the first place.

* * *

><p><em><strong>~Class~<strong>_

Tsuna and the gang walked in the door and scanned the room.

Orange haired pigtails: Nope.

Giant books: None in sight.

Human being in the seat next to Gokduera: Nonexistent.

"So she really skipped class…" Gokudera muttered, dropping into his seat and setting his feet on the desk.

'Woah…She had the nerve to skip class! Doesn't she know that Hibari would hunt her down?" Tsuna inwardly cried as Yamamoto smiled to everyone after sitting down.

This was a problem.

If she didn't show up in class, then they'll have to stalk her after school, commit various crimes, call together the Vongola Family and…possibly lay waste to the town of Namimori in their kidnapping attempt.

Which also spells painful death for when Hibari finds out they were the ones who did it.

Boy. It'll be joyous.

The class started quieting down and while Tsuna and co. pondered on where 'Nozomi' could be, suddenly, the window slowly creaked open.

Coincidentally, it happened to be the one by Nozomi's desk. Some people stared for a little and then turned their attention back to the front as the teacher's footsteps came closer and closer.

Tsuna looked a little more and after nothing happened, he, too, turned towards the front of the room.

And then…while nobody was paying attention…A certain orange head popped into the room and settled down in her seat with the stealth of a ninja.

No one noticed. For now.

And how did Kuroi suddenly obtain ninja skills?

Hibari. Kung fu class. Years of running away from Tsuna. Dodging the numerous bombs that come flying her way in the middle of math class.

_Stuff._

Without the basic necessity that is hiding for your presence (or just being sneaky), Kuroi would have long ago been reduced to something resembling a charred corpse buried five feet under.

So yeah, it was just miraculous adaption skills that came along with being forced into countless deadly situations…Every. Damn. Second.

On a daily basis, too.

Kuroi wondered about her sanity sometimes.

The teacher started checking roll and students responded with their choice of word varying from the normal 'Here!' to 'Tch, damn bastard…' to 'Ahaha! Hey!' and then…

"Nozomi, Rei!" the teacher called.

Tsuna and the others immediately thought that there would be no reply, but a somewhat familiar girl's voice drawled an uninterested response.

"Present." Kuroi said, tensing up and looking ready to jump out the window at split second notice.

She had a legit reason.

Because this simple word triggered a murderous outburst from the guy next to her.

"YOU-!" Gokudera exclaimed, whipping out his dynamite. "HOW DID YOU GET IN WITHOUT PASSING THE GATES?"

"…The back door?"

And then Yamamoto calmly restrained Gokudera as Kuroi watched with an alarmed and wary expression at the octopus-head attempting to bomb/strangle/murder her.

"Gokudera-kun! Calm down, class is neutral grounds, remember? Reborn specifically told us to not attack at this time!" Tsuna cried, joining Yamamoto in trying to calm the outraged storm.

"ARRRGGG!" He yelled.

And after a while, he grudgingly sat back down while Tsuna breathed a sigh of relief.

Gokudera contented himself with shooting Kuroi vicious glares all throughout class while the said girl did her best to ignore the ticking time bomb next to her.

So basically, though Kuroi was correct in assuming that Tsuna and co. wouldn't attack her in the middle of class and slaughter a good amount of innocent standby-ers…

Now what?

* * *

><p><strong> Reviewers: THANK YOU! YOU ARE MUCH LOVED TO THE EXTREME!<strong>

**Readers: THANK YOU! I LOVE YOU TOO!**

**Holidays are so close! XD Which means I'll update faster!**

**So drop a review or two?**


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